JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (May 9, 2011) - The ETSU baseball team got out to an early 6-0 lead and didn't look back as the Bucs defeated UNC Asheville 9-5 Monday afternoon at Cardinal Park.

Starter Lee Hall (Jacksonville, Fla.) threw 5.0 scoreless innings for the Buccaneers (31-16, 12-10 A-Sun) to pick up his first career win. Hall gave up just two hits in the outing while striking out three with two walks.

The 31 wins is one away from tying a season-best 32 victories under head coach Tony Skole. Skole is also one victory away from totaling 400 career wins.

Brian Connolly suffered the loss for UNCA (15-29, 7-14 Big South) after giving up six runs on ten hits in 2.2 innings of work.

ETSU outhit the Bulldogs 15-9 in the contest as all nine starters posted at least one hit. Catcher Derek Trent (Kingsport, Tenn.) had a game-high three hits, while Paul Hoilman (Johnson City, Tenn.) went 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run, two RBI and was hit by a pitch twice.

The Bucs cut down Asheville's Grant Gajdosz at the plate in the top of the first to keep the Bulldogs off of the board.

In the bottom half of the frame, ETSU grabbed four runs on six consecutive hits to take an early lead. Hoilman got the Bucs on the board with a two-run bomb to left center for his team-leading 16th home run. The Buccaneers added two more runs on RBI singles by Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) and Matthew Scruggs (Knoxville, Tenn.).

Trent put ETSU in front 5-0 in the bottom of the second after doubling in Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.). Skyler Barnett (Johnson City, Tenn.) made it 6-0 in the third as he singled in Scruggs from second.

Asheville cut into the Buccaneer advantage in the top of the sixth after Jordan Lurie scored on an ETSU error and Andrew Kirkland singled in a run to make the score 6-2.

The Bucs pushed across a run in the sixth without the benefit of a hit to increase their lead to 7-2. ETSU loaded the bases as Green reached on an Asheville error, Hoilman was hit by a pitch and Trent walked. In the next at-bat, Dylan Pratt (Johnson City, Tenn.) drove a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Green from third.

After the Bulldogs added a run in the seventh, ETSU jumped out to a 9-3 lead on a RBI ground out by Green in the seventh and a RBI single by Doane in the eighth.

Nick Collazo and Koontz hit back-to-back solo home runs or Asheville in the ninth to make the final 9-5.

The Bucs return to action on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. as they head to 13th ranked Clemson for a non-conference matchup. For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com or follow the Bucs on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ETSUAthletics.